On this blog, I -- John Lofland, jlofland@dcn.org -- report on social life and organization in the Old North area of Davis, California sub specie aeternitatis.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Old North Upkeep 4: Variations by Face Block (233)

In addition to further comparing ON to other areas, I think
it of use to contemplate how it

FOURTH OF SIX

varies within itself by “face block” in upkeep
terms.

By “face block” I mean the area along a street between two
intersecting streets. For example, the 600 numbered residences on C Street
between Sixth and Seventh streets form a “face block.”

ON has eleven face blocks, six in the 600s tier and five in
the 500s tier.

Having coded 163 street visible residences by viewing one residence
after another block-by-block, I had developed the data making face block calculations
possible.

In Table 5, we see the percent positive upkeep for each of
the 11 face blocks arrayed from lowest to highest. (As explained in the first post
in this series, I am not indicating the identities of specific face blocks.
This is done by reporting percentages and not numbers of residences and assigning
an alphabet letter to each block in place of its letter/hundreds name.)

The average level of positive upkeep for ON overall is 76%.
The spread from a low of 60%, shown on the left in the table, to 100% on the
right is of some interest. It represents, that is, a significant swing of 40%.

Table 6 provides a more refined depiction of this face block
variation. It reveals, indeed, some quite striking inconsistencies and anomalies
from face block to face block. For example, one of the most slum-like face
blocks--face block B--also has a concentration of the highest-level upkeep
residences combined with a concentration of blight! Similar although less
dramatic contrasts are seen in face blocks C and D.

Looking at Tables 5 and 6 overall, they suggest to me a
marked degree of visible inequality in ON. Some face blocks are near slums but
yet others have quite handsome appearances, overall. A couple of face blocks
are almost Dickensesque in their juxtaposition of upkeep levels.